Ho, Ho, Ho

Seasons Greetings to all - While the holiday preparations here on Kwaj may not have started quite as early as in the States, it's been the 'Holiday Season' for a while now. Before Thanksgiving, the Recreation Dept. started decorating 'downtown' for the season-opening arrival of Santa and the tree lighting ceremony on December 6th. That meant getting power arranged (and rearranged and rearranged) for said decorations. Due to a mechanical failure, Santa didn't quite make it to town, but the lighting ceremony went off without a hitch. At least that's what I was told that evening when I made my way to the store for a can of chicken noodle soup . . . . . The night prior, I had awakened in the wee hours with what I can only guess was the flu. I won't go into the nasty details. A week earlier I had a flu shot for the first time in a number of years. Coincidence?. . . . . On Saturday by the time we got all the lights hooked up, the outdoor stage powered and the connections checked for the flip-of-a-switch lighting display, I was fadin' fast. I left work early and headed to bed . . . . A couple hours later, the community band's renditions of Christmas music brought me around. I hadn't eaten anything since the night before, so I thought it best to get something to sustain me. The dining hall had closed and I didn't think they had what I needed anyway. A quick shower got me presentable so as not to scare the young revelers and I headed downtown . . . . . Downtown is a bicycle-and-pedestrian-traffic-only area, a 50-75 yard stretch lined with the PX, PXtra (sports, electronics, housewares and hardware), the convenience/liquor store, travel agency, hair salon and post office . . . . . It was a massive block party, adults gleefully sipping adult beverages while their progeny gleefully ran about, all the while the community band cranking out more holiday tunes . . . . . I worked my way through the crowd toward the store before encountering several celebrants I know from work/ golf . . . . . "Nice job" . . . . . "Oh, did you do that? Looked good!" . . . . ."Got a beer?" . . . . . I got soup instead, returned to my quarters, ate and dove back under the covers. I came around twelve hours later. Even at that, I spent most of Sunday sleeping and finally began to feel human, albeit a weak one, on Monday, just in time to get ready to go back to work on Tuesday . . . . . Since then I haven't been called on to contribute to any more festivities . . . . . Last evening, Scuba Santa arrived from the deep at Emon Beach. Scuba Santa? - only on Kwaj. . . . .I'm not sure how the youngsters deal with these different Santas, one arriving by plane, but not making it all the way to downtown, another crawling up off the reef . . . . . This was definitely a kiddy-oriented event, only a bit of adult BYOB in evidence. Good thing, since there are few lights at the beach and the short ones were running amok. Santa and his elves drug themselves and a glo-stick-lit Christmas tree out of the surf due to a low tide. I'm thankful the tree didn't require power . . . . . Later the Kwajalein Yacht Club staged a parade of lights, motoring their decorated vessels from the marina past the beach. From the toots, hoots and hollers emanating from the craft, I'd guess the sailors were in the holiday spirit . . . possibly with the help of some other spirits . . . . . Christmas will be celebrated on December 25th, local time - will miracles never cease? - which is to say, Christmas Eve back there in the States . . . . . As they did on Thanksgiving, the dining hall will put on a full-out, seven-hour feast, with everything from turkey, ham and prime rib to scallops, crawdads and crab legs (but nothing local; it's recommended that some of the local fare not be consumed . . . pollutants . . .) New Year's? I'll party another time. I'm scheduled to finish one has-to-be-done-no-matter-what-engineering-and-supply-didn't-get-right job by the 1st and start a 3-day-under-the-gun-power-outage on January 2nd . . . . . . ho, ho, humbug Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful holiday season surrounded by friends and family. May the New Year bring us all better times in better climes.